


Pulling You Into A Hug

by syriala



Series: The Hug Series [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash, Season 3, mentions of canon character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 15:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12915033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syriala/pseuds/syriala
Summary: Derek knew that he wasn’t dealing well right now, but he figured he had every right to freak out. Erica was dead. Lively, wonderful, sassy, force-of-nature Erica was dead. Cora, his baby sister Cora, was somehow still alive and more or less well. Boyd and Cora had slashed him up pretty badly, and a human had seen them, and Derek was frankly too tired to even change out of his ruined, bloodied shirt.He had buried Erica before he went after Boyd and Cora, and he could still feel her cold skin under his hands. Hands that were now caked with his own blood.  Derek was still staring at them when the door to his apartment suddenly flew open and Stiles rushed in.





	Pulling You Into A Hug

Derek knew that he wasn’t dealing well right now, but he figured he had every right to freak out. Erica was dead. Lively, wonderful, sassy, force-of-nature Erica was dead. Cora, his baby sister Cora, was somehow still alive and more or less well. Boyd and Cora had slashed him up pretty badly, and a human had seen them, and Derek was frankly too tired to even change out of his ruined, bloodied shirt.

He had buried Erica before he went after Boyd and Cora, and he could still feel her cold skin under his hands. Hands that were now caked with his own blood.  Derek was still staring at them when the door to his apartment suddenly flew open and Stiles rushed in.

“My childhood friend Heather, you know the one I nearly had sex with, the one I took freaking bubble baths with when I was four, that childhood friend, she’s dead. Heather is dead,” Stiles told him and Derek slowly dragged his eyes away from his hands.

“My little sister is alive,” he croaked out and Stiles deflated at that.

“If this were a most surprising and unsettling news contest, you’d win with that statement. But it’s not, so I’m gonna need you to use more words,” Stiles told him and it seemed that he only realized then that Derek was covered in blood.

“What the fuck happened to you?” he asked, worry clear in his eyes and voice, and hands flitting all over Derek’s body without really touching him.

“Erica is dead,” Derek gave back and couldn’t meet Stiles’ eyes. “I was too late. She’s dead.”

“I heard,” Stiles replied softly. “What happened there?” he asked and motioned at Derek’s slashed up shirt, before he carefully rested his hand on Derek’s side.

“Boyd and Cora. There was a human. I couldn’t let them hurt someone.”

“So you figured you’d rather get hurt yourself,” Stiles said and it wasn’t even a question.

“I’ll heal.”

“But it still hurts, doesn’t it?” Stiles asked him and suddenly Derek felt fragile, like he was about to break.

“She’s alive,” he whispered and only belatedly realized that he was shaking. “She’s alive, and all grown up, and I thought everyone was gone,” Derek choked out and then Stiles was right there.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” he said and gently pulled Derek into a hug.

“No, it’s not. It’s not! Your friend died,” Derek gave back, unwilling to just accept Stiles comfort, when he so clearly needed it himself.

“So did yours,” Stiles replied and he sounded like he was seconds away from crying.

“She wasn’t my friend. She was my beta,” Derek told him but he could feel Stiles shaking his head.

“She could have been. There was potential,” Stiles said with conviction even though he sounded sad.

He could be right, Derek knew, but wonderful, amazing, full-of-life Erica was dead and Derek would never find out.

“She was so cold,” he sobbed into Stiles neck and he could smell Stiles’ own tears.

“Yes, she was,” he whispered.

Derek knew they were talking about different people here, but they still shared the same grief. They both lost someone.

They quietly fell apart in each other’s arms but eventually they pulled themselves together again.

“So Cora, huh?” Stiles asked and wiped his eyes.

Derek felt like crying all over again.

“She is so grown up. But she smelled the same. She still smells like family and home, but I barely recognized her.”

“She changed. She was so young, right?” Stiles carefully asked.

“Elven. She was only eleven when she lost everyone,” Derek replied. “And now she is so different.”

“You both are,” Stiles gave back and carefully touched his hand to Derek’s cheek. “Look just how much you changed over the past few months. You’ll both have to get to know each other again.”

“I don’t know if she wants to get to know me,” Derek whispered and Stiles cracked a wobbly smile at him.

“Not with you looking like that, she won’t,” he gave back and hearing Stiles joke like that settled something in Derek.

“I should probably clean up,” Derek admitted and Stiles laughed for real now.

“Ya think?”

“I distinctly remember you not caring two minutes ago,” Derek told him and Stiles darted in for another quick hug.

“And I still don’t,” he said but then pushed Derek towards the bathroom. “Doesn’t mean you get out of showering.”

Derek let Stiles steer him to the bathroom without resistance and when they reached it he was promptly hit in the face by a towel.

“Go clean up,” he told him. “I know there’s a handsome face hidden but it’s hard to tell with all the grime and blood.”

Derek was still holding the towel over his head when he asked “Stay?” so he didn’t have to see Stiles’ face.

But he really shouldn’t have worried, because there wasn’t even a moment of hesitation before Stiles said “Sure.”

Even though Stiles closed the door afterwards Derek felt better just knowing that he was still there, on the other side. It made everything just a bit easier.

 

 


End file.
